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Councilman Neal Announces He'll Pursue NLB-Compton-Carson Assembly Seat, Says He's Raised $94k Thru June 30, Total $100k+ Thru July



(July 30, 2013, 11:15 a.m.) -- Ninth district Long Beach Councilman Steven Neal announced today (July 30) that he will indeed seek the NLB-Compton-Carson Assembly seat shown on the map (right) in the 2014 election cycle.

The announcement is consistent with LBREPORT.com's report over two months ago that Neal held a fundraiser for the 64th Assembly district race in May to succeed term limited Assemblyman Isadore Hall, III.

The announcement also means that by this time next year, Long Beach will have a new 9th district Councilmember as well as new Councilmembers in the 1st, 3rd and 5th districts and possibly the 7th district (details below). These changes will impact residents citywide because Long Beach Councilmembers have co-equal votes on citywide spending, land use and development projects.

In a release, Councilman Neal said he has raised over $100,000 "within the past eight weeks" and will pursue his bid for the 64th Assembly district (NLB-Carson-Compton district, map right). His most recent campaign contribution filing wasn't online as of 11:00 a.m. (deadline is July 31) but when it does appear, it will only cover the period from Jan 1 to June 30 and Neal's release says it will show $94,000 raised. That means the sources and amounts over $94,000 (which will include July) won't be known until the next filing period [we believe in six months.]

"As Assemblymember for the 64th District, I will be a strong and progressive voice for those I seek to represent. I will continue to work collaboratively with all District stakeholders to enrich and build each of our vibrant and distinct communities. Our campaign is focused on the issues that matter the most: economic development, health care, education, public services, and community involvement," Neal said in the release.

Neal's May Assembly fundraiser (previously reported by LBREPORT.com) was held at a residence in the vicinity of Tehachapi Dr. west of Orange Ave. [which happens to be outside the 64th Assembly district but is within the 8th LB Council district.]

Comparing the dates of campaign contributions, which will become public in a separate filing by a July 31 deadline, should show who contributed money in connection with that event. In April, LBREPORT.com was first to report that Councilman Neal had filed paperwork enabling him to raise money for the Assembly race.

Neal was elected to the City Council in April 2010 with support from organized labor, outpolling then-incumbent Vice Mayor Val Lerch who sought a third term via a write-in,

[Release text] Steve Neal has been a community and labor leader in the Los Angeles area for decades. Since his election in 2010, Steve, a Compton native, has served North Long Beach on the Long Beach City Council where he has an accomplished record supporting neighborhoods, small businesses, and working families as the author and creator of the Long Beach Foreclosure Registry Program, the Long Beach Liquor Store Modernization Program, and the North Long Beach Business Alliance. Councilmember Neal is the Assistant Pastor of S.E.A.M. Faith Family Church. He and his wife Katonja live in Long Beach and are the parents of five daughters, one son, and have nine grandchildren.

Locally, it's now certain that Long Beach Council incumbents Garcia, DeLong, Schipske and Neal will exit the Council by mid-2014...although Garcia and Schipske are part of a field seeking to become Long Beach's next Mayor. Councilman James Johnson, who during his first term faced an abortive recall attempt. faces one announced challenger to date in the 7th district.

For several years, Mayor Foster (who has no vote) has had a working Council majority to implement his favored policies from which Councilman Neal sometimes dissented. In Sept. 2011, Councilmembers Neal, Schipske and Gabelich advanced an alternative FY 12 budget that proposed using a portion of city oil revenue to avert Mayor/Manager proposed cuts to some city services. The Mayor's majority voted down the Schipske-Neal-Gabelich alternative.

In 2012, Councilmembers Neal and Austin dissented from a FY 13 budget that left LBPD with half of its previous gang officers and included "savings" form a city management-sought change in LBFD's paramedic responses (not yet implemented.)

In December 2011, Councilman Neal made a substitute motion -- which carried -- that blocked an effort by Councilmembers James Johnson and (now exited) Rae Gabelich that would have put Long Beach City Hall on record opposing a BNSF RR-sought railyard (Southern CA Int'l Gateway/SCIG) on the L.A.-WLB border. Instead, Councilman Neal's substitute motion directed city management to seek additional information from the Port of L.A. The Council ultimately directed city staff to file comments critical of the project's Environmental Impact Report, and Mayor Foster and Councilman Johnson subsequently urged "mitigation" for the project's impacts (while others argued that its impacts can't be mitigated.) The Long Beach City Council has since authorized filing a court action to challenge certification of the EIR...but to date, the policysetting Long Beach City Council hasn't taken a voted position for or against the proposed WLB-impacting railyard.


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